Death Game
by Frost687
Summary: Crystal's aunt had managed to get them two copies of Sword Art Online, the newest VRMMORPG! Her best friend also got SAO and joined Crystal's party! However, sweet turned sour when it was revealed that everyone was trapped within SAO. Crystal, Lily, and Hansuke must play along with this death game, or die trying to escape. OC-centric, OCs needed. Will stick to original storyline!
1. Prologue

**Hello, readers and viewers! This is Frost687, here for my new story, Death Game! Like I said in my previous story Iggychu 30 Day Challenge, I was planning several stories. I decided to start this one. Okay, this is my first Sword Art Online story! First, as the summary says, this is an OC-centric story, but will still stick to the original storyline. Kirito and Asuna marry in SAO, there's Yui, the Aincrad Arc is completely unchanged, the Fairy Dance Arc still goes on, etc. This could kind of be considered a spin-off series, like Soul Eater NOT! or… Well, I can't really think of anything else. These characters co-exist alongside the canon characters, so they won't interfere with the original storyline. However, I will change these tiny little things and add a few stories. For example, I will have the main characters run into Asuna, Kirito, Lisbeth, Agil, etc. However, these will not change the main plot in the slightest. Last, I will most likely include a small side story with Asuna and Kirito meeting Crystal and Lily. Don't worry, nothing important will change!**

**For this story, I would like it if I had a beta-reader. If you want to beta this story, PM me asking about it! Thanks, and I hope I can get a beta-reader soon.**

**The main characters of this story will be Crystal, Lily, and Hansuke. By the way, Lily is based on me. I couldn't resist! :D There is only a tiny chance that I will accept a submitted OC as a main character. An extremely tiny chance! I will be posting the OC requirements and submission information in the ending author's note, so please refer to that if you want to submit an OC. I will take as many OCs as I see fit, probably around 10 or even 15. Also, the characters must make sense, so absolutely no Mary Sues! Like I said, I will specify everything in the ending author's note.**

**The histories of these three characters will be explained in later chapters. For now, you don't really need too much information about their backgrounds. Crystal and Lily are from the US, which would explain their names. Like I said, I will explain everything in due time. Yes, Crystal and Hansuke end up as a couple, so that is the OC/OC I mentioned in the story summary. If you have any questions about the characters, their histories, or their personalities, feel free to ask in a review or PM me about it! I hope I will be able to clear up any confusion about these three characters with my answers.**

**Prologue**

**November 6, 2022 – 9:36 AM**

"See you tomorrow, Crystal! Don't get too caught up in those video games!"

"If you miss practice again, I will kill you!"

Waving goodbye to my friends, I laughed, replying, "I know, I know. Bye! I promise, I'll be here tomorrow!" Readjusting the book bag strap on my shoulder, I turned around and started walking in the opposite direction. My eyes floated down the sidewalk in front of her, landing on my aunt, Lily.

"I still don't understand how you could choose anything over technology," Lily joked, ruffling my hair and tapping me on my head lightly. I swatted her hand away and fixed my hair.

"At least I don't have my eyes glued to a screen all day," I replied in a snarky tone, like I always did.

Rolling her eyes, Aunt Lily commented, "Sometimes, I wish you knew what courtesy meant. Or manners. Or something called, 'the ability to know when you're supposed to shut your trap.' You know, those simple things that everyone should probably know." My mom would always complain about my tendency to speak my mind, unlike Aunt Lily. She was always too considerate…

This is my aunt, Lily Chen. To be truthful, she's actually Chinese, but was born and raised in the US, and now lives in Japan. I know, it's confusing. Being a genius in the field of technology since she was a child, Aunt Lily developed a world famous RPG when she was only 14! Naturally, she skyrocketed to the title of one of the world's most renowned computer software developers. Because of this, Aunt Lily is multilingual, speaking about a dozen languages so she can travel to foreign nations to develop software there. About two years ago, Lily actually moved to Japan to work under Akihiko Kayaba, the designer of the Nerve Gear, Cardinal System, and Sword Art Online! It's quite amazing, really. Now, she's about 23 years old, just 8 years older than me.

Speaking of myself… Hello, my name is Crystal Azuma! To be technical, my nationality is Japanese but like Aunt Lily, I grew up in the US. I am about 15 years old, soon to turn 16 in about a month. My hobbies include dancing, archery, and gaming. I'm not really much of a technology designer, but I am definitely a hard core gamer. Unlike Aunt Lily however, I actually had more to my life than computers and technology. Back in the US, where I was born, I have two cats, a lot of friends, and medals and trophies from my competitions in dance and archery, amounting to a more than decent life.

I also know how to speak English and Japanese, which will hopefully be the most languages I know. Being fluent in French, German, Italian, Mandarin, English, Japanese, Norwegian, Russian, Spanish, and who knows what else is great and all, but that's way too much for my brain to handle. I'm visiting Aunt Lily in Japan for a few months as a foreign exchange student, and so far, I'm doing fairly well!

As we continued walking to Aunt Lily's house a few blocks away, I started to pull several bobby pins from my hair. My pointe class required that we all put our hair in buns, which I despised more than anything. Lily rolled her eyes, already knowing I would do this, and took a small pouch from her purse, which was hanging over her shoulder. How that woman managed to fit everything she needs in that small purse is beyond me. I dropped each bobby pin into the pouch while taking more of those things out of my hair.

"By the way, you said that you got Sword Art Online," I said to Aunt Lily. "Can I play it when we get home?" Did I mention how Aunt Lily was working on Sword Art Online with Akihiko Kayaba? Well, the official server service starts today! My aunt had managed to get a hard copy of it – only 10,000 copies were first printed – just so I could play it! How great is she?

Taking the last bobby pin from my hair and putting it in the pouch, Aunt Lily replied, "Actually, I got two copies. One for you, and one for me. We both know how much I love RPGs! It's amazing how VRMMOs have progressed since I was your age." Don't worry about what Aunt Lily says; she loves talking about 'the good old days' just a decade ago. Then again, technology has advanced quite a lot in the past 10 years…

"Remember though," Aunt Lily started, "you still have your whole life ahead of you. Dance, archery, everything else; don't get too caught up in technology and gaming. I remember how I dropped dance for software development."

"I know you don't want me to only have a life about technology like you, Aunt Lily. But don't you have other things in your life besides gaming and anime?"

Lily shrugged and answered, "Most of those 'things' are connected, in some way, to gaming or anime. I often sing songs or compose music to include in computer software, and I usually only write fanfictions for anime."

Glancing at Aunt Lily in slight shock, I blurted out, "But still! You can sing, you write stories, and unlike me, you aren't tone deaf!" What? I'm completely tone-deaf; sue me, go ahead! Anyway, everything I said was completely true. I enjoyed dance, archery, and gaming, and Aunt Lily enjoyed anime, music, and writing. She can also cook like a pro… Actually, baking is her real specialty. That would mean Lily could make things like cakes, brownies, and other sweet things. It's not like I'm complaining.

Chuckling, Aunt Lily patted my head (even though she was only a bit taller than me), and thanked me for the compliment. I guess it was a compliment… We had finally gotten to her house, after about half and hour of walking from the dance studio. Aunt Lily dropped the pouch into her purse, and started fishing around in it for a keychain. She finally pulled several keys from her purse, hanging on a China keychain. You know, from Hetalia, the famous anime that ran from 2009 to 2016. It's still one of the most famous in the world.

While Lily was trying to find the house key among her ginormous collection of keys, I readjusted my bag's shoulder strap and glanced up at the house in front of us. It was one of the largest in Tokyo, which kind of made sense considering Aunt Lily's salary and her savings. Frankly, the place was more like a mansion, with an extremely unique design. Still, it looked good. A black metal fence surrounded her house, as well as all of Aunt Lily's property. Every now and then, I would walk out on the veranda around her house, and lie down on a patio chair just to relax. Either that, or the arbor in the middle of a lake near Aunt Lily's backyard. Even though Lily's place had a billion rooms and was filled with expensive furniture, her house still held a somewhat appealing air around it.

Aunt Lily started murmuring to herself, glancing at several keys until she found the right one. I swear, she can never find the correct key on the first try. After unlocking the front door and disabling the alarms, Aunt Lily took off her shoes and shrugged off her jacket, hanging it on a hook. I quickly followed inside until we got to the kitchen. Lily immediately opened the fridge door and started talking while I sat down on a swivel chair, resting my head on the kitchen counter.

"Okay, remember to put your stuff somewhere you can remember! I don't want to waste 10 minutes looking for your dance shoes or leotard again. I finally understand what my mom said about raising teenagers. Get your rest tonight, since you have archery practice tomorrow morning and your contemporary dance class after that. You have your calendar, right? Good. Update it, since I don't want to remember everything for you. Last thing! The official sever launch is in only three hours, so hurry up when I finish cooking. I took the afternoon off, so we have all the time in the world until night to play SAO." Aunt Lily grinned, thinking about the new MMORPG.

While she was rattling all of this off, Aunt Lily whipped open several drawers and cabinets, pulling out cooking supplies such as a wok and some food. Apparently, she was going to make a meat and vegetable stew. The side dishes would be some garlic bread and a salad.

Noticing how I was seemingly swiveling around in my chair absentmindedly, Aunt Lily snapped, "Are you even listening?" I may be a lazy person who likes to slack off, but I was most definitely listening. One thing I learned was that Aunt Lily had incredible aim with her knives; I don't really want a giant cleaver stuck in the wall, half a centimeter from my face. Yeah… According to Aunt Lily, she learned that from Izumi in FMA.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I replied, watching Aunt Lily fill a pot with water and turning on the stove. "Archery, and then dance class tomorrow. I need to put my stuff in a place where I won't lose it, and the SAO server launch is in three hours." Unlike Aunt Lily, I could actually remember things without writing them down.

Aunt Lily quickly took some cubed beef and scooped the chunks into the large pot, placing it on the stove before taking dried rosemary, parsley, and pepper from the cabinets. She had already peeled and cubed 3 potatoes, and picked up a large kitchen knife to chop some vegetables. Aunt Lily carefully inspected the silver knife blade before cutting a celery stalk into several pieces.

Smacking my hand lightly when I reached for some cheddar cheese, Aunt Lily asked, "Could you help with the salad?" I immediately jumped down from my chair and did as I was told, watching Lily make the vinaigrette for the salad. When I was finished chopping up lettuce, tomatoes, and a carrot, I got a cup of croutons while Aunt Lily continued with working on the stew.

"Thanks!" Aunt Lily called over the stove fan, stirring some bouillon, rosemary, parsley, and pepper with the beef stew.

From there on, I waited a little more than two hours, occasionally helping Aunt Lily with making the stew and pizza. While she was handling most of the cooking, I sat at the kitchen counter, playing several apps on my phone. Every now and then, I would glance at the glass clock right in front of me. 11:35… 12:23… News reports all over the world were about Sword Art Online's release and server launch today at 1 in the afternoon. A random news reporter was talking about how the first people in line at a local store had camped out for 3 days, which just made me want to snicker at their dedication. What? 3. Whole. Freaking. Days. That is crazy.

Finally, Aunt Lily finished with preparing the beef stew, garlic bread, and salad. Both of us seemed to have bottomless stomachs, and after my dance class, I was starving. While Aunt Lily carried the garlic bread and salad in her hands to the kitchen counter, I stood up from my chair and scooped some stew into two bowls.

"Hurry up and eat, Crystal!" Aunt Lily ordered before grabbing two spoons. "We have… 20 minutes!" With 20 minutes until the server launch of Sword Art Online, Lily didn't have to say anything for me to eat as fast as humanly possible. 20 minutes! 13 minutes! After what seemed like forever and a half, Aunt Lily also finished eating her lunch and we rushed to the game room. Yes, the place had a game room.

After we set up Sword Art Online and I took my NerveGear headset, I sat on one of the two twin beds in the room. While using the NerveGear, your body would become completely immobile, so it was best to be somewhere comfortable unless you want a giant cramp in your neck. I was about to put the headset on, but then noticed Aunt Lily staring at the device with a slightly annoyed look on her face.

I glanced at Aunt Lily, who was still not putting on the NerveGear and was just sitting on the edge of the other bed. "What's wrong?" I asked her.

Sighing, Aunt Lily answered, "I'm still a little worried about the microwaves this NerveGear uses. Unlike what I had when I was your age, this basically uses microwaves to essentially shut down your brain's connection with your body. I'm still not completely comfortable with letting a video game do that."

"Seriously, Aunt Lily?" I asked her, kind of ticked off. "The NerveGear has this safety thing, right? Besides, you've used it before and had no problem." My aunt was always so cautious about these things, and frankly, I found it annoying.

"Well, Sword Art Online is definitely the most popular video game designed for NerveGear. There's bound to be hackers and cheaters on this game, what with advancing technology these days. I should know. As an experiment, I managed to turn off the safety to the NerveGear quite easily. Who knows what other people can do?"

At this point, I just started whining. "Come on, Aunt Lily! No one else would have even thought of this, and besides, no one else is as good with computers as you! Sure, there are people like Akihiko Kayaba, but the chances of anyone else turning off this thing's safety is 1 in a million!" If I were to be blunt, like I always was, I just wanted to play SAO already.

"You do have a point, Crystal." Aunt Lily's eyes hovered over to the clock in the NerveGear headset and jumped, exclaiming, "The server launch is in 2 minutes!" I also jumped (yes, jumped), before I settled down on the bed and quickly put on the NerveGear, waiting for the clock to change again.

Next to me, Aunt Lily also put on the NerveGear and lied down on the other bed. As we waited, I glanced around the game room, impatiently looking at the clock over and over again. 12:58… 12:59…

13:00! We both closed our eyes, and at the same time, blurted out those well known words.

"Link start!"

* * *

The normal startup for the NerveGear flashed before my eyes. Sight, check… Sound, check… All of the five senses were shown in circles at the edge of my sight, before the title for Sword Art Online appeared.

'Welcome to Sword Art Online!'

For a few seconds, the welcome screen for SAO was the only thing I could see among pitch black. I decided to use the same avatar as almost every other MMORPG I've played. 10,000 other people would also be playing this game, and I expected most of the 1000 beta-testers to be logging on as well. With Aunt Lily's connections to Argus, the company that produced SAO, I expected to be one of the lucky beta-testers, which included only 1000 people. Guess what? I didn't beta-test SAO! Even so, Aunt Lily would spend hours on end explaining most functions within Sword Art Online and the Cardinal System, so I guess I was alright with not getting to be one of those lucky 1000 people.

I continued thinking about SAO during those few seconds of complete darkness, before the world suddenly appeared, with me right in the middle of it. Blinking, I got used to the artificial light within the game before glancing around. Dozens of players around me were also appearing in SAO, being surrounded by a circle of bright blue light as they were transported here. We were all in the middle of The Town of Beginnings, if what Aunt Lily said was correct.

Without even glancing down at myself, I knew exactly what I looked like. My hair was straight and a light silver, styled in a low ponytail and reaching halfway down my back. My skin was milky and light, and I had bright violet eyes. I had actually based my avatar off my favorite anime character, fem!Prussia from Hetalia. Well, if you had an aunt completely obsessed with anime, her likes would most likely rub off on you, right? I had set my in game height, weight, and body type to be the same as in the real world; I had an average height, and a lean stature.

Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder a whipped around to be met with a young woman. She had smooth olive toned skin, and almond shaped, emerald eyes. Her hair was completely black and wavy, and was tied in a high ponytail with long bangs sweeping over her left eye and covering almost half her face. She was obviously a little short for her age, only being a few inches taller than me. Normally, I would have asked who the woman was, but a grin broke out on my face. I definitely recognized who she was, and she had also used the same avatar as always.

"Hey, Aunt Lily."

Grinning, Lily replied, "Come on! Sword Art Online is waiting, you know." We both turned around, staring up at the virtual sun above our heads. Many more players appeared near us as we glanced around the plaza we were standing in. I finally smiled as well, and nodded to Aunt Lily.

"Then let's go!"

**Well, this is the prologue to Death Game! I hope you all enjoyed it! I will intend to finish this story, and if enough people request it, I will make a sequel following the Fairy Dance arc in ALO. Hansuke will be appearing in the next chapter, and if someone requests to submit an OC as a fourth main characters by the time I finish the chapter, I will include them.**

**If you haven't noticed yet, I've changed my beta reader status. As of now, I will be accepting beta requests. Simply PM me, and I will decide if I can beta-read your story. Also, I replied to every recent review to Iggychu 30 Day Challenge, so I'm pretty much caught up with FanFiction things. For me, school will start soon but I will be going on vacation in Los Angeles so I'll have some time to write stories! **

**As I stated in the beginning author's note, I will post the OC rules here. I will accept no more than twenty OCs, and that's stretching it. I need at least 5 OCs, so feel free to submit as many OCs as you like! **

**1: I will accept 5-15 OCs. Also, you can submit up to 4 OCs if you want, but I would prefer if you submit only 2 or 3. Please PM me if you want your OC to be included in this story.**

**2: Absolutely no Mary Sues. Unless a character has the proper history, it would be ridiculous if they were level 100 at the beginning of the game or had a unique skill before floor 10. Please give you character weaknesses and flaws. If you want, you can give your OC several skills they learn after a while in SAO. Also, make your characters human! Give them quirks and odd habits, like snoring when they sleep or eating spicy food all the time. To reiterate, make your characters human and imperfect.**

**3: Use the given format for submitting OCs! I will not accept any OCs unless you use the application I've provided below. If you can't or don't want to answer the minor questions, just say N/A. However, most of the fields are required, such as name, gender, age, history, and skills.**

**4: First come, first serve. If you submit an OC but I've already reached the 20-character limit, I will not be able to include your character. I apologize ahead of time, but please remember that I do have a limit. By the way, as I mentioned, if you ask an OC to be a main character, it must be before Chapter 3 is published.**

**5: The type of character. I don't want a billion teenage girls in SAO. After all, I would like to see some adults or guys in the story as well. Of course, I will accept teens and girls, just not as the majority of the characters. Also, I don't want every character to have been a past beta-tester. You can make an OC one of the beta-testers, but there will be a limit on how many of those I accept.**

**Application Form:**

**Name:**

**Gender:**

**Age:**

**Personality:**

**History:**

**Strengths/skills: **

**Weaknesses/flaws:**

**Likes:**

**Dislikes:**

**Other (ex. Skills to acquire at a certain level, amount of experience or money):**


	2. It's Now Reality

**Ay ay ay. This chapter took way too long… Well, hello readers and viewers! This Frost687, in Death Game. I will confess and say that my writer's block wasn't as bad as usual; I was simply procrastinating. Well, there was also Anime California, which I attended two weeks ago. It was amazing, and I even saw some Kirito cosplayers! Also, I am officially hosting Hetalia Day Las Vegas! Okay, I should move onto the story…**

**This is really where the story starts to take off! Like the last chapter title said, the last chapter was just a prologue to introduce characters. I'll try to keep the action up, as well as give it some good angst during the story. There will be a few fillers, but I will usually only write them when my brain is completely out of ideas. Oh come on, every storyline needs fillers!**

**Yes, Lily seems like a Mary Sue. However, I did spend some time developing her character to give her several serious flaws and weaknesses. While I am on the topic of characters, I should tell you that a character will probably seen boring or Mary Sueish in their first appearances. I have the habit of foreshadowing character traits that you might only understand when you read the whole story. Yeah, I need to improve on that.**

* * *

**It's Now Reality**

"Soooo… got any more tips?" I asked rocking back and forth on my feet with an innocent grin on my face.

Aunt Lily sighed, unsheathing a long, silver rapier and grasping it firmly in her hand. Facing a random boar nearby, she held the sword at her side before drawing her arm back slightly. Her rapier's blade began glowing light blue, and Lily suddenly dashed toward the boar. Within a split second, she managed to slash the boar twice, leaving behind the shape of a V in scarlet gashes across the side of its body. While Aunt Lily stood rigid, rapier in hand, the boar's health bar quickly declined, shattering into blue polygons and disappearing.

After she walked over to me, Lily commented, "Lesson 1: Sword Skills. Use them." Immediately after she said that, a battle result screen appeared right in front of her. She quickly glanced it over and continued talking while pacing around the small grassy cliff we were standing on.

"Lesson two: this game's leveling system is completely unfair! Take advantage of it. Lesson three: don't panic about your health too much. It's not like you'll die when your health drops to yellow or red. Just carry some healing potions on your belt." Aunt Lily shifted the long dark cloak she was wearing, revealing a small belt pouch with a potion bottle inside.

"And just remember, this game was categorized as adventure! Figure things out on your own; don't act like an old grandma." She proceeded to slash through several Frenzy Boars that were materializing around the small field with efficient jabs, cuts, and thrusts. She grinned at me while scanning through the battle result screen, and sheathed her rapier in the scabbard on her hip. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at her 'video game' persona. Well, it's not as if recognizing that side of her was difficult.

I adjusted my grip on the one handed curved sword in my hand. Another boar had spawned near us, and I kind of wanted to try out the skills Aunt Lily would spend forever and a half raving about. When I focused on the Frenzy Boar in front of me, the surrounding field blurred in my vision, which was a normal part of gameplay mechanics. Drawing it back to my left hip, the sword glowed the same light blue before I charged, slashing the boar straight through it.

The boar squealed out a cry of pain as its health bar dwindled, falling to zero. Another screen popped up in front of me after the boar disintegrated into more sky blue polygons. These monsters didn't really drop too much, and winnings from slaying them usually only amounted to a bit of EXP and Col, with the occasional food item.

Aunt Lily patted my head once again, which was just as annoying as in real life. "So how do you like Sword Art Online so far? We slaved over it, you know. I was in charge of the graphic and environment; my team was amazing." Facing the Starting City, Aunt Lily stared over the grassy plain surrounding the giant city.

"You already told me about that. Well, it is really beautiful in this game, and the graphics design is so you." When Aunt Lily turned toward me, I just answered, "Don't deny it."

Shrugging, Aunt Lily continued on, "Are any of your friends playing SAO? I kind of want to hear more opinions of this game… You know, just for business purposes." How very believable, Lily.

"I… don't remember. I just don't know, okay?" I exclaimed. "Too lazy to remember… And weren't you giving me tips about playing Sword Art Online before?"

"Fine, fine, fine," Lily sighed. "But you are going to me tell me about your SAO experience in full detail. How would your 'laziness' like that?"

* * *

I attempted to entertain myself while Aunt Lily was testing out her new sword. It was an Iron Rapier, which she just bought from a store in the Starting City. That was why she was slashing through several spawned monsters to see how it functioned. We had just arrived at a larger cliff looking out over several towns, with the setting sun glaring into my eyes. I absentmindedly continued polishing my own sword, even though it was a virtual one that didn't need polishing.

"Crystal! Crystal, over here!" Suddenly, we both heard a very familiar voice calling my name. As in, my real name.

Standing on the giant hill behind us were two teens. The first one was still walking towards us, and even from the edge of the cliff, I could see that his face screamed, 'I am so done.' He had slightly spiked black hair, dark brown eyes, and looked about 17 or 18. Honestly, I wouldn't be able to tell because of the game's avatar functions allowing a person to change their appearance completely. He was glancing off to the side, giving me the sense that he had no opinion of anything.

Meanwhile, the first boy was heading towards us. His black, shoulder length hair was tied into a ponytail and his skin was kind of tanned. For some reason, he seemed to know my real name; was he someone I knew out of game? My eyes floated over to the green player cursor floating above his head and the HP bar by his side. His username read…

"Hansuke?" I basically jumped in surprise at his name. No wonder that voice was familiar!

Aunt Lily asked, "Do you know him?"

I only nodded, and ran over to where Hansuke was standing with the other teen. When Aunt Lily followed me and the four of us were gathered in a small group, I started talking.

"This is my friend, Hansuke," I told Aunt Lily. "And Hansuke, this is my aunt, Lily. Well, in-game she's Fuyumi."

Hansuke was a friend of mine from archery classes, but Aunt Lily didn't know him yet. I guess it was mainly because of the fact that I didn't want him to know that my aunt was a rich software designer working for Akihiko Kayaba. To me, people treating someone like royalty just for their money was kind of ridiculous and a little stupid. On the other hand, Aunt Lily probably would have been quick to explain where all of her money came from…

Nodding politely at Aunt Lily, Hansuke gestured toward the boy next to him, saying, "This is my friend Kokiro; he's in the same classes as me. He won't really say anything to you until he can trust you completely." Kokiro glanced at me, eyes completely unwavering like he was scanning me.

"Nice to meet you, Fuyumi, and Melody." Melody was my in-game username. By the tone in Kokiro's voice, I would bet that Hansuke's description of him was spot on.

"How did you see us Han? It's kind of hard to recognize someone when they're standing on a cliff." Han was the nickname I had for Hansuke.

Hansuke began, "Believe me, it was no easy task. You changed your avatar, so I didn't even know who you were until I saw your username. Long story short…" Kokiro pointed to a cliff behind us, which had a path leading directly here.

After the introductions, Aunt Lily asked the two, "So, what brought you to this game? Do you like the design of Aincrad so far? What do you think of the gameplay mechanics? The Sword Skills?" As she continued talking, Aunt Lily started to speak more rapidly and was even _leaning forward_, wanting an answer from Han and Kokiro. From the time I've spent living with her, I learned that she can be very scary about her love for anime and gaming.

I leaned over to Hansuke, whispering, "Don't worry about Aunt Lily, and just answer her questions. I get the feeling that she loves gaming to death. Maybe even more than death." He nodded in agreement, but I could've sworn I saw a nervous sweatdrop on his forehead.

"Well, Crystal suggested this game, so I got the game. Kokiro and I both waited in line for four days to get one of the hard copies of SAO. I think the graphics and mechanics are unique, especially how there isn't any magic. By the way Crystal, how did you get a copy of Sword Art Online?"

Before I answered, Kokiro spoke up, which was surprising considering how quiet he was being. "Pardon my interruption, but could you start referring to each other with your in-game usernames? It would be more simple when talking with people we don't know."

Okay? I'm starting to get the sense that Kokiro is a little odd. Then again, who of us isn't? I just shrugged, and replied, "Why care about how I got the game? We're playing SAO and that's all that matters." If I were to be blunt, Akihiko was amazing in coming up with the idea for developing a game using FullDive technology that _he himself _created.

"Same person as always, Cry- Melody," Hansuke said.

"I've gotten used to her craziness as well," Aunt Lily commented.

I just rolled my eyes, while Hansuke asked Lily, "So what about you? What do you think of Sword Art Online?" The moment I saw Aunt Lily's eyes sparkle in happiness and a grin break out on her face, I instantly knew that Han had said the worst thing possible.

"Well for starters, I believe the gameplay mechanics are quite unique and interesting; after all, it was designed to be like that. You're going to love some of the upper levels, they have different themes to them! Personally, I think some of them are annoying, but I'm only one part of the team. We all poured our hearts and souls into making the graphics, and they turned out wonderfully. I came up with the idea to include different seasons, just to add some creativity to the game. I haven't seen the upper level bosses yet, but some of them are as freaky as hell! There's actually this really creepy monster in the dungeon of the Starting City, right in the middle of a corridor leading to a safe zone. I based its appearance on the grim reaper! By the way, when the dungeon is unlocked, don't go there. That thing is as powerful as several 90-floor bosses. Don't worry, I won't spoil too much; I've already forgotten a lot of stuff about this game. BUT! I could offer some tips, so long as they don't involve me having to remember specific details, since I'm not too good at that. I can't even remember where the first floor boss is! Any questions?" Aunt Lily was panting slightly, excited look on her face staring at a very nervous Hansuke and Kokiro. At that point, she was starting to look like some sort of crazed scientist.

Facepalm. Sometimes, I swear that Aunt Lily acts 10 years younger when it comes to things she loves with a dangerous passion. Suddenly though, when I realized just what she said, I started and got the urge to smack her upside the head.

Finally, Hansuke managed to string together a few words, saying, "What you were talking about… How did you know about the game mechanics? You're talking like you know about the upper levels."

"Didn't tell them?" Lily whispered to me. I nodded, glaring at her. "Whoops…"

Abruptly, Aunt Lily started talking to Hansuke and Kokiro once again. "Just me rambling! Like Melody said, let's continue on playing the game. Oh! I forgot, how about we add each other to our friends lists? We don't really have to form a party or anything if you don't want, but it would be fun to chat every now and then!" Oh Aunt Lily, how terrible you are at distracting people.

Aunt Lily hurriedly accessed the main menu, tapping on the third option. I glanced down when a friend request screen popped up in front of me, as well as in front of Kokiro and Hansuke. The three of us all tapped the blue 'O', confirming Aunt Lily's request. To me, it was pretty clear that Hansuke still wanted to know what Lily was rambling about; it was quite relieving that she had managed to turn his attention away from her little – giant! – slip up.

Hansuke also accessed his main menu screen, saying, "Let's see… Equipment, Friends, Communications, Maps, Settings." He tapped each option, scanning through the list of choices for each category. My guess was that he wanted to familiarize himself with the main menu, since he had the lucky benefit of not sitting through 10 straight minutes of Aunt Lily rambling about SAO.

"Hey, isn't this supposed to be the log out option?" Han's extremely odd question got our attention, and I rushed to his side as soon as possible to see the menu screen. The last Settings option was an icon of a person exiting a door. It was the normal exit sign, but there wasn't any text with it. No 'log-out', 'log-off', not even an 'I need to get out of this game to eat dinner' option. Han tried tapping it, but nothing would happen.

Kokiro finally spoke again, asking, "How about you try to call the Game Master? This could be a simple bug or glitch." He pointed at another option, which Han tapped.

"This isn't a bug." Aunt Lily had also accessed her main menu, hand hovering over the missing log out button. From personal experience, I could tell that Aunt Lily would always try to remain calm and keep her emotions in check, but I could easily spot the slight furrow in her eyebrows and the way her eyes would widen just half a fraction.

Pacing in small circles around Han, Kokiro, and me, Aunt Lily tapped several more icons in front of her. "I'll just contact Mr. Kayaba. I'm almost completely sure he'll answer to me, if no one else. Just enter in my work ID… administrator password…"

"What in the world do you mean when you say that?" Han asked impatiently. He was still staring at the menu screen in front of him, waiting for a GM.

Waving her hand dismissively, Aunt Lily told him, "I'll tell you later, if it's okay, Melody." Nodding to Aunt Lily to tell her it was fine, I continued staring at Han's menu screen, and then I brought up my own, revealing the same problem.

"I'm actually starting to think that we might be trapped here," I said to Han. "After all, wouldn't the server admins have already logged out anyone playing it? I don't think there's another way to log out at this point."

Kokiro noted, "Also, we don't know how long the log out function was missing. It could have been wiped from the menu one minute ago, or one hour ago. For all we know, there could have been a chance this log out button never existed. Who knows how many people are freaking out down there?" He motioned toward the Starting City, as well as the towns we had sight of.

Of course, Aunt Lily was starting to have her own mini panic attack. "For some reason, the system is denying me any admin access. I should have the ability to force us to log out of the game, but it's not doing anything!"

"Aunt Lily…"

"Even worse than that is how I can't find the log out function! When the beta testers played this game, they had absolutely no problem with any part of it. But now, it's like the thing never existed. Gone completely, with no hide or hair of it. Nay, nada, none, zero, zilch, zip!" Unbeknownst to her, church bells from the Starting City began to ring. Unlike the cute tinkling sounds of those little glass bells, these church bells were echoing all the way to the cliff we were standing on, and probably to everyone on the 1st floor.

"Aunt Lily…"

Of course, she still didn't listen to me, and continued on. "And on top of that, this means that we'll be trapped here for an indefinite amount of time! So that would mean that until someone takes the NerveGear off our heads…"

"Fuyumi!" Kokiro snapped. When she turned to him, Kokiro questioned, "Do you hear bells too?" Before we could think, a pale blue light flared around all four of us. I felt so completely shocked, I didn't even think while our sight was completely blocked off.

'What the? We're being teleported somewhere!' I thought frantically. Soon, I glanced around, turning back and forth to try and figure out where we were. Aunt Lily, Hansuke, Kokiro. Okay, all four of us were in the same place, and that place would be… the plaza?

For reasons that we did not know, the four of us as well as hundreds of other players were standing in the Starting City's plaza. Even while I was staring around at our surroundings, trying to figure out why we were here, dozens of players were being transported to this spot. Soon though, Aunt Lily tapped my arm slightly.

"Up there," she whispered to me. Kokiro and Han were already looking up at the center of the plaza, and I turned to see what they were staring at. A warning sign blinked, black type on a pure crimson panel. The single word read, 'WARNING.' Soon, the signs multiplied, spreading over the entire sky, and formed an entire dome over the city plaza. They all read, 'WARNING', and 'System Announcement'.

While everyone was staring at the odd red goop seeping from cracks in the new 'ceiling, Aunt Lily asked, "But what kind of system announcement? This was never supposed to happen." I bit my lip slightly at a gigantic robed figure formed, floating over the plaza and the players, with no face underneath its cloak's hood. Voices floated to my ears, with people quietly asking questions, wondering if this was an event of some kind.

"This is not an event," muttered Lily. "I don't know much about what's happening, but I might know who that is. And for once, I hope I'm wrong…"

"Attention, players. I welcome you to my world." The figure raised its arms, speaking in a kind but mysterious voice, booming loudly through the city but keeping itself controlled and respectful. "My name is Akihiko Kayaba, and as of this moment, I am in control of this world."

What? When my head jerked toward Aunt Lily, I saw her staring at the robed figure with a seemingly emotionless expression. Even so, as her superior continued explaining the function of Sword Art Online, I noticed those same tiny details she would try to keep hidden. Her eyebrows furrowing in concentration, her teeth biting on the corner of her lip, and the way her foot was tapping in anticipation. I had only seen him in person once, but Aunt Lily would spend days working with him, helping him to develop SAO. She knew who Akihiko Kayaba was, and I was betting she knew this man was him.

"…destroying your brain and ending your life." Double what? My attention focused on Kayaba once again, when he told everyone about the NerveGear's microwave transmitters. Most of the players started doubting the notion he put forward, but then I remembered. I recalled what Aunt Lily had said about the NerveGear, and this time, her instinct proved right.

"213 people were killed within the past 4 hours… And we didn't even notice?" Aunt Lily growled.

Akihiko Kayaba continued talking. He told us how to escape the game, and when he was finished with telling us about clearing all 100 floors, the tension started growing even more. People frantically denying things, calling Kayaba insane. Even so, from what Aunt Lily told of him, even I could tell that he wasn't lying in the slightest. Kokiro and Han had managed to stay relatively calm, but it was kind of easy to spot their hands, clenching into fists and Kokiro's eyes growing fiercer by the second.

"Last but not least, I've placed a little present in the storage of every player. Please, have a look." Kayaba stopped talking while most of the players around us immediately started going through their storage. While I did the same thing, I paused and stared at the item in question.

A mirror? "What good will a mirror do?" I asked to myself. Tapping the item, it spawned in my hand as a simple, ordinary hand mirror.

Aunt Lily, Han, and Kokiro all had a copy of the same mirror. Every hand mirror was exactly the same, with no differences to them whatsoever. But soon…

"What the?" I whipped around to find Hansuke, with a pale blue light around him again. Soon, Aunt Lily also had the same light shining in a circle around her.

"Are we being teleported again?" I asked. We were all surrounded by a light blue. There was so much light shining, I'm pretty sure anyone not surrounded by it would have been blinded. Squeezing my eyes shut, I only opened them again after I was positive I wouldn't be staring into a mini sun.

Okay, we were in the same place. But what changed? "Crystal? Is that you?" Turning left, I saw Aunt Lily. Not Fuyumi, Aunt Lily. She had the appearance of an early adult, but I knew that she was around 23 or 24. She had long, wavy black hair with bangs parted to one side and reaching down to her back. Her skin was pale, and had slanted dark brown eyes. That was how she looked in the real world, though. What was…

In a panic, I looked down at the mirror I was holding. My reflection glinted, showing a teenage girl with black, straight shoulder length hair and dark, coal like eyes. That was me. My real appearance, with slightly tanned skin and a short but thin stature. Next to me was Hansuke, no longer with his SAO avatar. His hair was a dark brown, and was now short and scruffy instead of being in a ponytail. He was of average height, and a little shorter than his avatar. Last, there was Kokiro, who I just barely recognized. He now had slighter lighter hair – oddly, it looked a bit like dark blue now – framing his younger looking face. He was quite tall, standing at almost 6 feet. I would have guessed 5.11". The oddest part of his appearance though, was his eyes, which were a pure obsidian. Not dark brown or coal, just pure black.

"Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online, do such a thing?" Kayaba was talking again. Part of me just wanted to shut that bastard's mouth forever, but I did actually want to know.

* * *

To say the players were in complete chaos would have been an understatement. Most of the people were panicking, running around or standing, dumbstruck. One girl had even collapsed, crying that this couldn't have been happening.

"Okay," Aunt Lily began. "We are trapped in this world, and this game is basically like our new life. We cannot revive anyone, so no bringing people back from the dead. Also, Mr. Kayaba apparently turned on the pain sensors. Avoid as much damage as possible." A teen with light caramel color hair was breaking down in tears. Another girl, who I guess was her sister, was comforting the crying teen.

I barely noticed, but Aunt Lily was leading all of us out of the plaza and still talking. "To escape this game, we need to level up, get as much EXP and Col as possible, and stay alive! That means raising our defense, speed, and battle healing skills should be made our priority." An old man with silvery gray hair was calming several players down, shouting in a mixture of Japanese and another language, probably German.

"Get the best weapons possible to survive against the spawned and boss monsters alike. We cannot slip up, or the penalty will most likely be death. Understand?" Two siblings were rushing from the plaza, rushing through the chaos of the players breaking down in panic.

As Aunt Lily, Han, Kokiro, and I all ran down alleys winding through the Starting City, her lecture about the game continued on.

"What's up with her?" Han asked. "It's as if her personality's done a complete 180." Now that I thought about it, Aunt Lily really was acting oddly.

Still keeping close watch over us, Lily added, "Players will do the same thing soon. We will compete with them for Col, items, and life. Just remember that this is our new reality. My advice is to pretend that Earth doesn't exist anymore, and Aincrad is the world. Don't remember the other reality. This will be our life."

Even though I was mostly focused on understanding why Aunt Lily was acting so oddly, I could still hear what she said. I could perfectly understand that one sentence she uttered.

'This is our new reality.' We can't escape this game until we beat it.

"I had a rehearsal tomorrow. I was going to have an archery competition in two weeks," I whispered to myself. I couldn't just _forget our world_, like Aunt Lily wanted. First, I was going to beat this game. Then, I would kick Akihiko Kayaba to hell and back. Third, I would get back to my friends so we could laugh together once again while eating ice cream cones. In my mind, through all of the screams and the panic attacks, my goal to escape was perfectly clear. If I died in the process, I wouldn't care; I just wanted to help everyone get out of here. This was our reality for now.

This is not a game.

**Joooooooooy. Officially the longest I have ever taken to update a chapter that I promised to update. So now, we do have a bit of foreshadowing with Lily's mental state compared to Crystal's, and some cameos from user-submitted OCs. Thank you so much for the support, so in return, I will warn you about my slow speed when updating stories. Last, I am still accepting OCs! Since I was being a ditz when typing the OC application, I forgot to add 'Appearance'! Please include that, and I apologize for my screw up.**

**I will go deeper into the psychological aspect of Sword Art Online, and more about people's minds when thinking about being trapped in a new world and not being able to escape. I'm going to give Lily and Crystal different motives for surviving through SAO, for example. Also, I might touch on how gaming and virtual worlds in general affect people in different ways, and why some people love gaming, or why some people hate it. Although, I definitely have to remember to stick to that and not drift off on some random storyline…**

**Also, could I have some advice about the Item thing when writing? This is my first SAO story, so I'm just guessing about when to use it. By the way, I think I should start referring to Aunt Lily as Fuyumi, her in game username. I will probably start doing that by next chapter.**

**Well, I will definitely try to update Death Game sooner! Now that school starting has calmed down, I might be able to stick to a schedule of updating every 2 weeks. This is Frost687, signing off!**


	3. Time Passes

**Yes. I know. I'm late, I'm late. But please don't kill me, okay? *bricked and shot* Did you not hear what I said about not killing me? *dodges flying tomatoes* Okay, not what I was hoping for… But luckily, I did manage to set up a schedule, I recovered from my whole week of being sick, and school has calmed down somewhat within the first month. I even have a beta-reader! Please all thank and praise my beta-reader, Reykis, for putting up with my extreme slowness!**

**I have a few chapter notes. First, everyone will be referred to with their ingame usernames. Aunt Lily is now Fuyumi, and Crystal is Melody. It's just less confusing that way. However, sometimes Melody will accidentally call Fuyumi by her real name. Just a little foreshadowing ;)**

**By the way, the second half of this chapter takes place a month after the players are trapped in SAO. The first level isn't cleared until two months after SAO begins. I wanted to place this chapter right in a time where the players' hope starts to dwindle while the death rate continues to rise. Since Kirito cleared the first level in like episode 2, I also wanted to get some story content in before that happened. Last, I will give most OC's appearances within the next few chapters, when Fuyumi and Melody spend some time on the front lines. Now, I'm giving them some time to cope with the game and show some of their training.**

* * *

**Time Passes**

Hansuke and Kokiro both stood in front of me, with Fuyumi at my side. After running from the crowd of panicking people, we had all managed to escape to an alley at the edge of the town. Right now, I was staring straight at the cobblestone ground as I continued to huff and wheeze, trying to regain my breath. Well, we did run through a giant city at about 60 miles per hour.

"Okay," Han began, panting, "We've gotten… away… from the mob… Now, could someone… explain just… what's going on, and who that… insane guy back there was?"

"That… That really was Akihiko Kayaba," Fuyumi whispered. Han and Kokiro turned, and she continued. "I know him. By the way, Melody, do you want me to tell them about my job? Considering my knowledge about this game…"

Kokiro interrupted, saying, "If you have knowledge about the game, simply tell us! We need all the help we can get escaping this hell." When I caught Fuyumi's line of sight, she nodded and took a deep breath.

"Do you want to know how Melody and I got copies of SAO? Do you want to know how I have knowledge of the upper floors and how I know Kayaba? Well… I'm a software designer. I've created everything from video games to computer programs and everything in between. You might know me as Lily Chen in the real world."

There was silence.

Their reactions were both hilarious and shocking. Han started jerking his head to look from me to Fuyumi and back again. Kokiro's jaw dropped to the cobblestone ground, and he continued blinking as if he were in some sort of dream. Well, Aunt – I mean – Fuyumi was quite a famous person in the anime and gaming industry.

Finally, Kokiro recovered from his daze and asked, "Are you really…" He quickly regained his composure, but was obviously waiting for an answer.

She mockingly gasped. "Yeah. Don't you recognize me from my pictures in the news? I'm hurt." She placed her hands over her heart, looking shocked. Even with her hand gestures and faked shocked expression, Fuyumi looked as if it were painful for her to even make a joke.

Han rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Well, a lot of people look like you, I guess. Also, Melody never really said anything about her aunt being a rich and famous _tech mogul_."

I just smiled nervously, considering the fact that I was still running through my list of options on what to say in my mind. Soon though, I actually remembered how to speak.

"Well, just look at your reactions! Han, I don't want respect or anything of the sort just because my aunt is a millionaire. In the real world, I would live with perfectly normal and naggy parents, in a perfectly normal house when I was in America. When I visit Japan, I stay in a mansion. Why do you think I never invite any of my friends to visit?"

Taking a deep breath in, possibly to simply say something or inhale, Han looked like he was about to retort with a snappy comment before snapping his mouth shut.

Kokiro glanced to the side, commented, "I think we should probably be worrying about escaping this game instead of talking about our rich relatives."

Well, he brushed that off rather quickly.

"A lot of players are already recovering from their shock and are heading off. It would be best if we start on our way to the next town."

While we were talking, we did notice a few players, most likely others who were trying to get away from the crowd of people back in the town plaza. My back slid down the wall behind me, leading me to plop my butt on the ground.

"You're right," I mumbled, nodding in agreement. With a sigh, I stood back up and started pacing in small circles around Han, Kokiro, and Fuyumi. Unsheathing my sword, I held it up above my head, watching rays of sunlight highlight its curved blade.

_Akihiko Kayaba. _

_His name is one of the most well known throughout the technological world, whether you're a rich software designer or a teen with a lot of free time and with a love for video game. My aunt, Lily, works for and personally knows this man. He is the creator of the NerveGear, the Cardinal System, and the world famous Sword Art Online. I should say he's infamous now. On the day of the server launch of SAO, over 10,000 players found themselves trapped in the game, including me. Now, we need to battle our way through 100 floors and defeat the game if we ever want to get back to the real world. Even so, I feel like I'm one of the few who still remember._

**LINE BREAK**

_It's been an entire month. Players were dying left and right, until many others eventually started to shrink away from the game in fear. Aunt Lily and I are still training but we have yet to locate the boss. Though Fuyumi was one of the main programmers of Sword Art Online, she says she doesn't remember where the boss is, leaving us in training and battling monsters while hoping someone else manages to find and clear Level 1 of Aincrad. We've even formed a party with Hansuke and Kokiro, and I'm doing everything I can to beat and escape this hellhole._

"Gotcha!" I slashed clean through a Liekos Wolf, my sword leaving behind a trail of sky blue energy and crimson bits of light from my attack. As soon as I could move again, another battle result screen popped up in front of me. I had gotten 40 Col from that wolf, along with some meat. Not bad. Meanwhile, Fuyumi silently sheathed her rapier while scanning over her battle results screen.

Noticing that I was finished with the wolf, Aunt- Fuyumi asked, "How much?"

The two of us were hunting in our favorite field, a little outside the town we were staying in. Ever since we had first been trapped in SAO, Fuyumi would spend almost every free day hunting or making money in some way or another.

I quickly checked my supplies, replying, "240 Col. That takes care of our food for a few days." As we were talking, an odd noise in the background had started. It didn't seem to matter too much, so I ignored it.

"300 Col. I'll save it, since we don't need anymore money at the moment. This new rapier is doing quite well." Fuyumi had just bought a new sword from this NPC shop, another reason for our hunting today.

"So… Do you wanna continue hunting? We have some time before we're supposed to meet back up with Han and Kokiro." Somehow, I got the nagging feeling that I knew what she would say as soon as I spoke.

Fuyumi's eyes flicked down before shooting back up to meet my line of sight. "No. Night is coming around soon, and who knows what kind of monsters will spawn at night? Besides… I kind of want to find out what that commotion is about." She pointed behind me. I turned my head toward that odd noise from before, and saw something very, very weird.

Across the field the two of us were standing in, there were three other people, appearing to be in a bit of a catfight. A seriously pissed off looking girl and equally angry guy were wrestling with each other and shouting at the top of their lungs. By my guess, their fights happened on a regular basis, considering another girl standing nearby and shaking her head at the two. Apparently, she was trying to get them to stop but already knew that it wouldn't work.

"I get the feeling that happens a lot between them," I commented, back to watch the group.

The first girl (the one that was fighting with the guy) had silvery white hair reaching her shoulders, pale skin, and crimson red eyes, probably an albino. She was seemed to be about as tall as me, and lean in build.

The second girl was not even trying to calm the two down, and I got the sense that she found actually found the scene entertaining. She was the shortest in the group and had caramel hair, gray eyes, and cute little freckles spread over her cheeks. The girl was giggling a lot as the other two continued to duke it out.

Meanwhile, the last person, a teenage boy around of the age of 17, was still fighting the albino. He was the tallest, standing a few inches above the two girls. His auburn red hair was kind of messy and spiked up a bit, and his eyes were emerald green. For some reason, he was holding and waving around some pieces of odd meat.

"How many times do I have to repeat it? We are not eating FROG! Why do you have frog anyway?" The albino was saying something about eating frog while the redhead tried to convince her otherwise. At least, that's what I picked up on from their conversation/battle.

Fuyumi tapped my shoulder, saying, "Why don't we go see what the frog thing is about?" Might as well, we have nothing else to do.

We walked over to the group, and I tapped the caramel haired girl on the shoulder. She jumped, surprised at our presence. "Y-yeah?"

"Hey, I'm Melody. This is Fuyumi right here," I introduced. "What are they fighting about? Something about a frog?"

The albino girl sighed, and then answered, "Well, this IDIOT here wants to cook frog for us." She jabbed her finger at the redhead, who was still holding the frog legs. "My name is Kyoko, but you can call me Kyo. This girl right here is Yuki, and that stupied redhead there is Blaine."

The boy replied angrily, "Well, unless you have something else, we're eating frog!"

"Don't you have enough Col to buy some decent food?" Kyo retorted. "Oh wait… you spent it all on cake, right?" Great, it seems like Blaine is a sweet tooth… I guess this means…

Eyes growing wide, Fuyumi asked, "Do you… like sweets?" As soon as the redhead nodded, she quickly rested her elbow on his shoulder. It was still kind of odd, considering she was shorter than him.

"It's official. This guy's my new best friend."

I rolled my eyes. "Honestly, Fuyumi?" Kyo started snickering at the two of them, and I quickly joined in. After all, it had been quite a while since Aunt Fuyumi was happy, unlike in the real world. And speaking of emotion…

"So, what was up with the 180 personality flip?" I asked the other girl, who hadn't said a word since she noticed me.

"Don't worry about it," Kyo commented. "Yuki's just not very good with strangers. Even more so, considering the fact that there are about a billion things here that could squash us like we were ants."

I burst out into laughter. "Hey, it's okay to be nervous!" I reassured the girl. "After all, you just need to stick with your friends and you'll be fine. We might even be able to escape this game and get back to the real world." I managed to get a cute little smile from Yuki as Kyo grinned at me in thanks.

"Yeah," she spoke softly. "After all, Kyo and I were planning to try baking red velvet cupcakes for the first time."

I thought it was impossible, but my grin widened when Yuki talked about cupcakes. She was adorable! "Well then, as soon as we get out of here, you and Kyo can make a hundred cupcakes!"

I finally managed to get a small chuckle from Yuki, and my comment about the cupcakes prompted Blaine to start begging the two girls for cupcakes. It didn't take a genius to notice that the three were really close friends, and that Yuki was beyond adorable. Kyo somehow changed the subject of the conversation from cupcakes to complaining that the game mechanics for cooking were way too easy. Of course, Blaine countered that by saying easier baking meant more food. Another argument, joy!

I just joined in on their argument for the sake of arguing, because why not? The argument sounded funny, and I'm all for the comedy. As the old saying goes, 'If you can't beat them, join them.' I started voicing my own opinion about the cupcakes, how I didn't care about the mechanics as long as I got sweets. The five of us continued laughing and joking some more, leading me to start wondering if I should join the second spat between the group. I eventually decided to, and we got back on the subject of getting out of the game.

Blaine told us that he had waited in line for days before getting a copy of SAO, which meant that he had camped out next to a store for 4 days straight. Meanwhile, Kyo bragged that she and Yuki had won their copies in a district wide writing contest in their high school, while I just told them that Fuyumi knew a man who could get us copies.

If only I didn't join the conversation, I probably would have noticed the small frown on Aunt Lily's face as I brought up the real world…

**And that's another chapter! Once again, I am so sorry about updating after about 3 weeks. Hopefully though, I will be able to update after about 2 weeks. I have set up a schedule as I mentioned in the beginning author's note. Chapter 4 is set for October 13, October 14 at the latest. Also, please thank Reykis once again for beta-reading this!**

**By the way, I am still accepting OCs for submission. However, I do have a limit for user submitted characters, so I can only take 5 more characters, tops. I do intend to include several characters of my own, so I already have around a dozen characters for my story.**

**For all, this is all of the news I have about ****Death Game****. I apologize once again for my extreme lateness in updating this, and I'll see you next time!**


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